In last week's Davis Cup matches, World #1
Novak Djokovic was unable to carry his team to victory,
unlike last year. Djokovic
retired from Serbia's semi-final tie with Argentina, allowing the South American country to reach another Davis Cup final. It should be interesting to see if the difference in results will have an impact on Djokovic's 2012 (or perhaps even the rest of 2011).
Argentina's
Juan Martin del Potro was his country's Davis Cup hero, and they will face the indomitable Spain in the final tie in December which will of course be on red dirt in Spain, presumably Madrid. World #2
Rafael Nadal, who Djokovic
has beaten in 6 very important finals this year so far, was devastatingly effective against
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and
Richard Gasquet,
serving up a bagel set in each of his straight set thrashings of the French players.
World #3
Roger Federer boarded a plane to Australia a mere hours after
his heart-wrenching loss to Djokovic in the U.S. Open semifinals (up two match points for the second consecutive year) and to try and get Switzerland back into the Davis Cup World Group (and confirm his eligibility for next year's London Olympics. Switzerland was able to win their tie 3-2 with Federer contributing wins over
Bernard Tomic and
Lleyton Hewit and then teaming up with
Stanislas Wawrinka to lose a tight doubles match against Hewitt and
Chris Guccione. Wawrinka became the star for the Swiss team when he won a 5-set match against Hewitt 6-3 (after the match was suspended for darkness at 5-3!) to clinch the win for the Swiss and eliminate the Australians.
It will be interesting to see what impact, if any, these Davis Cup results have on the 2012 Grand Slam results (and the 2012 London Olympics).
